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Boat Dealers Hope Show Reignites Flagging Sales

Posted on: Saturday, 14 January 2006, 03:03 CST

By Lori Becker, The Palm Beach Post, Fla.

Jan. 14--Tom Grane is ready to make a deal.

The owner of Treasure Coast Boating Center, one of the region's largest boat dealers, is hoping to boost his sales at the Stuart Boat Show this weekend after losing ground last year.

The Stuart dealership, which does about $18 million in sales a year, sold about 60 fewer boats in 2005 -- mostly his entry-level models -- than in previous years, Grane said.

"Now's a great time to buy a boat," Grane said as he showed off the 60 boats he has displayed in the boat show.

Treasure Coast boat sales have taken several slaps over the past year, with rising fuel prices, destructive hurricane seasons and the ailing water quality in the St. Lucie River, dealers said.

In turn, many manufacturers are offering rebates, longer warranties and low interest rates.

Dealers were cutting prices and pushing their products Friday as the 32-year-old boat show opened in a new location on the St. Lucie River.

Show organizers are hoping for strong sales and good weather.

"I'm hoping that the city understands what the marine industry is all about by coming to the show," said promoter Rick Allen, whose AllSports Productions produces the show for the Marine Industries Association of the Treasure Coast.

The show, which runs through Sunday, features 500 vessels displayed in water and onshore.

With nearly 190 exhibitors, it also includes a variety of boat accessories and services.

After 12 years at Northside Marina, the boat show moved to the west side of State Road 707 because Northside's new owner is building condominiums on the property.

The show now spans three adjacent marinas -- Stuart Cay Marina, Allied Richard Bertram Marine Group and Stuart Harbor Marina -- and spills out into the street.

The state closed a half-mile section of S.R. 707 from the old Roosevelt drawbridge to Fern Street for the show, a move that caused some confusion this week with city leaders who thought the road would be closed only three days rather than six.

The new venue brings more room for exhibitors, especially those with land displays. And room for future expansion, organizers said.

The show has grown by more than 400 percent over the past decade, in terms of attendance and the number of exhibitors, Allen said.

This weekend's show is expected to draw more than 13,000 people.

Many exhibitors and showgoers praised the new location Friday.

"The flow of traffic is easier. It shows well," said Pete Peterson, marketing vice president for World Cat, a Tarboro, N.C.-based boat builder with dealerships in Fort Lauderdale and Rockledge.

Peterson said he's been coming to the Stuart show for seven years to sell World Cat's power catamarans that range from 23 to 32 feet and have a price tag of $80,000 to $280,000.

"The people you get at this boat show are shopping for a boat. They're not just having a social event, which is what the Fort Lauderdale and Miami shows are," he said.

Warren Stevens was among those shoppers on Friday. The Cherry Hill, N.J., man, who winters in Jensen Beach, is looking for a new boat because his wife didn't like his last vessel, a 56-foot yacht.

"I either had to get a new boat or a new wife, and I thought a new boat was cheaper," he said.

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Source: The Palm Beach Post

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